Is Bellevue a Suburb?

Seattlest's kneejerk answer: Um, yeah. Is this a trick question?

But it turns out suburb vs. not a suburb is a hot topic on Wikipedia at the moment.

Arguments against Bellevue's suburban status:
1) It may have started as a suburb, but now it's really an edge city.
2) It's too big. It's got 117,000 people! It's the fifth largest city in Washington state!
3) Bellevue's economy isn't dependent on Seattle's anymore.
4) The census bureau now calls the region the Seattle-Bellevue-Tacoma metropolitan area.

Pro-suburb arguments:
1) Once a suburb, always a suburb.
2) Size matters not. Lots of other suburbs are really big, too, like Phoenix's suburb Mesa.
3) Seattle's so dominant culturally that most other cities in the area are suburbs by default.
4) Does anyone who doesn't live here (or work for the census bureau) know where Bellevue is?

Seattlest? We say suburb -- and edge city. We'll even give 'em boomburb, because it sounds cool and they could use it. Then again, we're not called Bellevueist. But ask us to name a Seattle suburb and Bellevue's the first city that comes to mind.

We noticed, however, that Bellevue's official website doesn't mention the word. We sent an email to their Service First department and asked what Bellevue's official position on the question is. We'll let you know what we hear.

In the meantime, we ask you: is Bellevue a suburb?

Contact the author of this article or email tips@seattlest.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By James in News on July 12, 2006 2:40 PM

Comments [rss]

denver

The problem with the word "suburb" is that it lumps all kinds of communities together in a kind of pejorative limbo. Not a quaint "town" but not a real "city", either. Both Bellevue and Sammamish, for example, are referred to as "suburbs" of Seattle, but there's a big difference between the two. I don't think anyone would dispute that Bellevue functions independently of Seattle or shares a "twin city" relationship with it. However, calling it a "suburb" ignores the fact that it has become an employment center and a significant "player" as far as municipalities go. The discussion on Wikipedia started because a phrase in the "Performing Arts" section (!) mentioned in passing "...in the suburb of Bellevue". There is no need to do this. As it stands now, the phrase reads "...in neighboring Bellevue." It is absolutely true that Bellevue is Seattle's neighbor, and the latter phrasing avoids dissing B. as a mere "suburb" (= bedroom community), when it really has become a bit more than that.

thehim

I'm with Joey, still a suburb. When you can fly into Sea-Tac and take a train to Bellevue Square it becomes an edge city.

ryan

Just because you say you're from the closest city that's most widely known doesn't mean you're from a suburb. Tacoma is not a suburb of Seattle, but when I'm out of the country almost no one knows where it is. If I'm traveling within the US, I'll say I'm from Tacoma.

Bellevue is perceived by a lot of people (myself included) to lack cultural character-- outside of fine yuppie-friendly shopping & dining and a few arts organizations-- if that changes, and the residential density increases substantially over its neighboring areas, it seems reasonable to consider it a city in more than name alone.

andy

Bellevue's resident population is probably too large and it's been around a little too long to be considered an edge city.

James Callan

No Bellevue partisans out there? The city's new slogan: Destined to live forever in Seattle's shadow.

I'm still surprised the Wikipedia debate has lasted for several days -- though it's probably proof of Bellevue's suburban status that it's taking place on Seattle's talk page.

joey

Suburb: it cannot stand on its own.

Seth

Here's the test, in my mind. If you are traveling, and someone asks you where you're from, what do you say? If you don't say the city in your mailing address, you live in a suburb, hombre.

Traveling with my cousins last weekend--one lives in Bellevue, one in Kenmore. Their answer? "Seattle."

Nothing wrong with being a suburb. Hell, Greenwich Village was once a suburb of New York. Eventually, we'll be one happy megalopolis.

Trevor

That's because it is "in the seattle area".

Although I somewhat hail from Bellevue, I'll still call it a Suburb, so Seattle doesn't look puny compaired to our Canadian Cousin(That's larger in size and population, but still canadian so it doesn't really matter); Vancouver.

jason

your knee-jerk answer seems right, though i'm pretty sure most of seattle doesn't want to claim bellevue anymore.

as an add-on to your pro point #4, companies that don't know the difference constantly refer to jobs in bellevue as being located "in the seattle area".